Daily crude steel output among China’s 318 steel mills declined further to the lowest since late April 2020, or down 3% from January 21-31 to 2.77 million tonnes/day, mainly due to the temporary market quietness just days before the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday over February 11-17.
Some of 318 steel producers including 247 blast-furnace (BF) and 71 electric-arc-furnace (EAF) mills across China conducted maintenance on their steel making facilities on noting that demand softened, as most end-users had either halted operations a few days earlier before the CNY for a longer break, or they had stocked up abundant stocks before the holiday.